BlueAnt S3 Voice Controlled Car Speakerphone (Black)[Retail Packaging]

A blue ant, according to the Wikipedia entry, is not a blue ant at all. It is a solitary wasp sometimes known as a flower wasp and is native to parts of Australia. BlueAnt Wireless on the other hand, is a wireless communications company specializing in high-quality Bluetooth mobile devices and is also native to Australia. The BlueAnt S3 Compact Car Speakerphone is BlueAnt's latest Bluetooth speakerphone. The S3's big brother, the S4, is widely considered to be the best and most advanced Bluetooth speakerphone on the market today. To make sure the S4 didn't grow up an only child, BlueAnt gave birth to the S3 Compact.

PROS:

Easy pairing and simple to use

Good, loud sound with A2DP audio support

Physical On/Off switch

Answer/Ignore calls by voice

Great battery life

Multipoint support

Good build quality w/2 year warranty

CONS:

Music sounds just OK

CONTENTS, BUILD QUALITY, & DESIGN

The S3 package includes a car charger with a USB port, a micro USB cable, 1 small and 1 large visor clip and a manual.

Upon opening the package, the first thing I noticed was how solid the S3 Compact felt in my hands. There were no visible open seams in the plastic and it felt very durable. I went over the the entire unit with my hands and put pressure on it to see if any part of the S3 would flex but couldn't find any.

The S3 unit itself only has 1 physical buttonthe on/off switch, which I love. I'm learning to dislike Bluetooth devices that require you to hold a button down to turn it on and off. A switch is quicker and more convenient. The other functions of the S3 are controlled via it's front touch-sensitive control panel, which include a multifunction button and volume controls.

USAGE

I once helped someone set up an integrated Bluetooth system in their Acura and it was hard to set up and not very intuitive to use. Setup and usage of the S3 was a different experience. When I turned the S3 on for the first time, I was asked to confirm the language by pressing the multifunction button. I accidentally selected Australian English and had a male voice with an Australian accent walk me through the rest of the pairing process. Luckily, I was able to change the language later after a reset. The S3 then automatically entered pairing mode and the male voice instructed me through the pairing process. It was very simple and I didn't even need to enter a code. It then transferred my phonebook. On my Droid X, I got a prompt to confirm whether I wanted to transfer the phonebook. After I confirmed the transfer, it completed in just a few seconds. I have less than 100 contacts but the S3 can store up to 2,000 contacts, per phone. The benefit of transferring the phonebook is that the S3 will announce the name of the caller if they exist in your phonebook.

Making calls by voice worked reasonably well but the best part was being able to answer and ignore calls by voice. I was able to answer calls by just saying, "Answer" or ignore them by saying "Ignore." These voice commands are really what help distinguish the S3 from other speakerphones that require you to physically touch a button to answer or ignore calls.

The touch buttons on the S3's control panel were responsive and changing the volume of the speaker was simple enough-just swipe your finger from the "-" to the "+" to increase the volume or the other way to decrease it.

The S3 also has a sensor to detect vibrations from your car door so that if left on, it will try to reconnect to your phone when you return. Since I have children in car seats, they are the first ones to enter the car. While buckling them in, I could hear the S3 blabbing about something but couldn't quite make out what it was saying. Once I entered the car myself, I could see that the S3 and my phone had established a connection. I'm guessing that once the S3 disconnects from your phone, it goes into a power saving mode and when the sensor detects that you've opened the car door, it takes it out of power saving mode to reconnect. I'll likely just turn the S3 on and off as needed, but it might be a very useful feature for those who would prefer to just leave it on for most of the day.

SOUND QUALITY

I found the sound quality to be good on both ends. The speaker got plenty loud enough to hear at highway speeds and the A2DP support allowed me to listen to music from my phone and hear GPS instructions as well. Music didn't sound great, but it was an improvement over my phone's speaker.

On the other end, people said that they could hear my clearly, though one person said that they could hear a slight echo. When I tested the noise cancellation, people on the other end said that they could hear some background noise, but my voice could still be heard over the noise. I rolled my driver's side window down at about 35MPH and was told that they noticed more background noise but that my voice was still clear.

CHARGING & BATTERY LIFE

Since the S3 charges via a micro USB port, I was able to use my Motorola Droid X chargers to charge it up. It only took a few hours to completely charge it and is rated at 20 hours of talk time and an incredible 600 hours of standby; that's over 3 weeks! I can't think of a headset that comes remotely close to those battery times.

CONCLUSION

The BlueAnt S3 Compact is a very good Bluetooth speakerphone. It is simple to install and simple to use. Other than an FM transmitter, I can't think of another premium feature that the S3 lacks. The feature I like most is the ability to answer and ignore calls by using my voice. In lieu of an integrated OEM phone system, the S3 Compact might just be the next best thing. Maybe even better.

* Review sample courtesy of BlueAnt Wireless

First the good: It is well made, pairs easily and sounds good, just an occasional echo. They don't advertise it, but it also has voice dialing if your phone supports it.

Now the Bad: It has a very strong signal, so stays connected easily for 50 feet or so even through walls and doors. Therefore when you park in front of a store or restaurant, or especially at home in the garage, if your cellphone rings, the S3 answers it IN THE CAR!. Your phone rings, but it's just a dead line. They brag about a "vibration sensor" that re-pairs your phone when you close the car door, but you will never use it because whenever you get within 30 feet of the car, it will re-pair long before you even get close to the car. And again, when your phone rings, you can't use it, because the S3 answers in the car!

The final nail in it's coffin for me is that when you go out of range and later get back in the car, now the voice dialing (if your phone has that capability) does not work!!! It re-pairs fine, but no voice dialing. We tried this on two separate cellphones, a Nokia and Samsung with identical results.

BlueAnt knows about this problem and has a work-around: turn it off every time you get out of the car and back on every time you get in. Sounds easy enough, maybe, but the on-off switch is fairly small and VERY STIFF, requiring some precise thumbnail maneuvering. Another fix is to re-boot your cellphone every time you leave and then come back in range. And you have to remember to do this EACH TIME you enter or leave the car. I don't know about you, but that is waaaay too much hassle for me. My wife refuses to even fool with it.

In summary, if you never use voice dialing AND are always 50' away from the car when you get out (remember the garage or parking space at home) it's fine. Otherwise, at least for two of us, it's more trouble than it's worth.

Buy BlueAnt S3 Voice Controlled Car Speakerphone (Black)[Retail Packaging] Now

Most people do not even realize that I am on a speaker phone and I drive a non-insulated service van. The voice command responds well and the on/off switch is a great idea over the last version. Great speaker volume and range.The only drawback is the double touch to hang up does not always work for me. It could be my timing.

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I got this for my step mom for Christmas and after opening it we got it set up in just a few minutes. It easily recognized her phone and paired. It synced her phonebook in a few minutes and was ready to go. The controls are easy and I like that there is a switch for on and off instead of just a button. I am sure that there are other products which will make the speakerphone work with the fm radio, but for someone who just does regular calling and may even want to have the radio on in the background this product is great. You can't find one cheaper with such a good quality anywhere (believe me I looked).

-UPDATED 10/3-

8 months later this bluetooth has stopped working... callers can not hear your voice on the other end and you can not hear them. The phone's bluetooth functions all still work with other products so we know it is not the phone. Too bad because she really liked it while it worked.

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In Trinidad & Tobago, it is against the law to use your mobile phone while driving. After very nearly getting caught with my mobile phone in my hand by a motorcycle police officer in rush-hour traffic, I got this as soon as I got home.

When doing the very easy initial pairing process, Stick with the American english. I could not deal with the English woman's or the Australian guy's voice.

I a very pleased with it to date. Paired with my Nokia E71, I only have to tap the center of the touch area to activate voce dialing (though my Nokia voice dialing feature at time is a bit frustrating when it doesn't find the contact). Swipe to the left or right to raise/lower volume and when the Blue ant spells out the number of a caller, I simply say "Answer" and the call connects.

Voice quality is very good. Most people did not know I was on speakerphone. I am not distracted by the speaker phone and my driving style has not changed.

My cons with It so far:

Of course, you have no privacy when you have passengers in your car. This is not too big an issue as I am usually the ony person in my car when driving.

spells out the number instead of saying the caller's name (but my phone itself does). I will concede that it is due to the phone. With my next phone purchase (hopefully an Android) I will confirm.

remembering to turn it off when exiting the car. Too many times, I leave the car and go out of range of it and then take a call on my mobile and mid-conversation the phone suddenly goes 'dead', ony for me to realise that the phone reconnected to the speaker phone when I re-enter the bluetooth range. I usually have to hastiy set phone to handset before the other party hangs up, assuming the call dropped.

I have found the battery life is not as long as I'd like, at least not the 10 days advertised. Maybe it is because I tend to have long phone conversatons while driving.

the micro USB charger cable is just too short. I have to unhook it from my vizor to charge it in the car.

Overall, this has been a very good investment for my phone and car. Buy it!

UPDATE: OCTOBER 2012

It is now indeed almost a year later and I did indeed get an Anrdoid phone (Galaxy Y Pro, then Galaxy S II) The Y Pro did not support voice dialing while the S II does. The only compliant now is the the voice dialing is much slower, again due to the phone needing the internet to process my voice.

Syncing contacts is a breeze.

It has worked beautifully in this time. I do have a bit of trouble remembering to turn on the speakerphone (or the phone's bluetooth or both) when I get into me car, and that can cause a scramble to answer the phone if I get a call while driving. At least I am using Arkon SM410 Universal Windshield with Dashboard and Vent Mount for Smartphones and PDAs Mount Bulk Packaging Black to make things easier.

It is a bit iffy when you have two phones connected at the same time. Be sure the phone you use for voice dialing is paired first.

I'll also point out that there is a BlueAnt app for Android phones that works with this speaker phone. Will try it out and update.

But I still recommend this device.

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